weatherchannelfandomcom-20200215-history
Tampa Bay News 7
Tampa Bay News 7 is a cable-based TV news station in Tampa, Florida. It currently serves the Tampa Bay Area including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Polk, Pasco, Hernando & Citrus counties. General Manager Jim Smith came from Seattle to create the station. His drawing of the original wheel remains on the wall of the station's hallway. Smith also created the Tampa Bay News 7 weather channel, a Spanish service, the on-demand channels & the web site. The station began operating on June 6th, 1997 & gives weather updates every 10 minutes "on the 7's" & more frequently during unusual weather conditions. In 2002, it was first in the area to provide a VIPIR Doppler radar system. In 2007, Tampa Bay News 7 became the first station in Florida & only a handful of stations to provide a Dual-Pole Doppler Radar system. On Monday January 5th 2009, Tampa Bay News 7 launched it's upgraded doppler rader system called Klystron 7. This new system is capable of seeing weather features in greater detail than other Doppler radar systems. It's seen on ch. 7 on all systems. The newscasts (with the exception of Tampa Bay News 7 This Morning's segments) are recorded for repeat broadcasts with BREAKING NEWS & weather forecasts inserted almost hourly Slogans/logos * Tampa Bay News 7 has had 1 slogan change since 1997, which occurred in 2002 just before the first graphics/music overhaul. Originally the slogan was "Your News, 24/7". Today, it's "Tampa Bay's 24-Hour NewsChannel". * The station does not staff the assignment desk, reporters, photographers, management, weather staff nor producers after the 11:00 PM sports show ends. The station airs pre-recorded content from that time (Tampa Bay News 7 This Evening replay from 8:00 PM) until they update it again at 5:00 AM the following day Programming information Newscasts & segments Tampa Bay News 7 provides the following newscasts & segments as part of it's 24-hour news cycle "Tampa Bay News 7 This Morning" Tampa Bay News 7 This Morning began airing in 2000 & provides news, traffic & weather from 5:00-9:00 AM on weekdays. There is also a weekend edition that airs from 6:00-10:00 AM In June of 2008, Tampa Bay News 7 began airing traffic updates 6 times an hour, as opposed to 4 times an hour (which was the standard since the station's inception). Updates now occur right after the weather segments @ :00 & :30 past the hour, as well as the usual :09, :19, :39 & :49 past the hour "Tampa Bay News 7 This Evening" Tampa Bay News 7 This Evening also began airing in 2000. LIVE news & weather updates are provided at 5:00, 6:00 & 7:00 PM, with a continuous replay cycle from 8:00 PM until 5:00 (or 6:00) AM, excluding times when the "Tampa Bay News 7 Sports Wrap" airs "TB's 7:00 News" In 2003, Tampa Bay News 7 introduced TB's 7:00 News, a prime-time newscast that provides BREAKING NEWS, the day's top stories & a national news segment called 'The Nightly News Digest'. This separate newscast has since been immersed into Tampa Bay News 7 This Evening, which has aired since 2000 "TB's 10:00 News" TB's 10:00 News was part of a short-lived primetime lineup that aired from 2000-2003. The hour-long newscast was originally preceded by another 1-hour counterpart called "7 at 9:00", which ended in 2002 "Health Team 7" In 1999, Tampa Bay News 7 introduced a team of experts who report on a variety of medical issues. The current team consists of licensed physicians who along with a licensed psychologist, report the latest medical news on "Health Team 7's HealthWatch" every morning. "Health Team 7's Medical Beat" during the primetime news is reported by the evening anchor "Extras" These short, 4-5 minute reports have long since been a staple of Tampa Bay News 7. They are primarily geared towards an array of lifestyle topics (except the "Extra on Special Assignment" report, which is directed towards fluff stories) Current Extras *Multi-day reports: **Health Team 7's HealthWatch: Health Issues reported by Health Team 7's team of doctors, airs Monday-Friday @ :42/hour from 5:00 AM-5:00 PM **Health Team 7's Medical Beat: Medical Headlines reported by an evening anchor, airs Monday-Friday @ :53/hour from 5:00 PM-5:00 AM **Extra on Special Assignment airs Sunday-Thursday @ :53/hour from 5:00 PM-5:00 AM ***Every Wednesday is a transportation report titled "Getting There", which highlights major roadway projects & other traffic-related issues ***Every Sunday is a technology report titled "Technology & You", which highlights different technologies that can make a difference in today's world. Sometimes, local inventors & companies are profiled in this report *Weekly reports: **Extra on Getting There: Component to "Extra on Special Assignment" & mainly focuses on Transportation-related issues, airs Wednesday evenings @ :42/hour **Extra on Everyday Heroes: People who make a difference in the community **Extra on the Web: Website profiles & reviews, airs Tuesday mornings @ :53/hour **Extra on the Town: A weekend event calendar, airs Friday mornings @ :53/hour **Health Team 7 on Fitness: Fitness, Exercise & Dieting tips, airs Saturday mornings @ :53/hour **Florida on a Tankful: Airs Saturday mornings @ :53/hour **Health Team 7 Headlines (Commonly known as Health Team 7's HealthWatch report) a look @ the past week in health, airs Sunday mornings @ :42/hour Note: ##/hour means :## past the hour. Example: :42/hour means :42 past the hour In March 2008, Tampa Bay News 7 revamped it's news cycle, eliminating the "Beyond the Bay" segment @ :42 past the hour & replacing it with the EXTRA segment from :23 past the hour. The segment @ :23 past the hour is now local news coverage. In recent years, weekend traffic reports were also eliminated to expand local news coverage. The format returns to the "original" news cycle, with EXTRAS appearing @ :23 & :53 past the hour during the primetime & overnight newscasts Past Extras **Extra on Your Health: 1997-1999, was cancelled after "Health Team 7" was formed Other programs In addition, Tampa Bay News 7 provides only 1 content-exclusive program which air regularly "Tampa Bay News 7 Sports Wrap" The long-running sports-theme program airs every night at 11:30 PM (originally, the show aired at 10:30 PM). The show focuses mainly on local sports but also BIG national sports stories Affiliated stations Tampa Bay News 7 offers an HD channel & several content-exclusive & On Demand channels available only to cable subscribers Tampa Bay News 7-HD (Ch. 1007) The HD counterpart of the 24-hour news channel rolled out in spring of 2006, along with a round of graphics changes Tampa Bay News 7 en Español (Ch. 140) A 24-hour Spanish news channel that was launched in 2002. Unlike it's English counterpart, the station reports on exclusive stories that meet the needs of Tampa's Spanish-speaking population. The segments & format of both Tampa Bay News 7 & Tampa Bay News 7 en Español are similar. Tampa Bay News 7 en Español is notable in that it's the 1st of it's kind 24-hour local news channel in the nation Tampa Bay News 7's Travel Weather NOW (Ch. 110) The 24-hour weather network was originally provided a 24-hour local forecast after it's initial launch in 1999. The network was revamped in 2004 & re-launched as "Tampa Bay News 7's Travel Weather NOW", a 24-hour weather network geared primarily towards business travelers Tampa Bay News 7 on Demand (Ch. 340) Originally part of Tampa Bay on Demand, the news archive reports were consolidated into their own channel in mid of 2006. In addition to the news archive (which includes archived video news reports & long-form programming), other news programming & resources have been added to the new channel Local partnerships Tampa Bay News 7 has partnerships with various local newspapers & radio stations, including: *''St. Petersburg Times'' *''Citrus County Chronicle'' *''The Bradenton Herald'' *''The Ledger'' (Lakeland) *''Tampa Bay Business Journal'' Studio Main studio In June of 2005, Tampa Bay News 7 moved from it's original studios in Pinellas Park to a larger facility @ the Carillon Office Complex in St. Petersburg. The new studio houses the latest in broadcasting technology, including large display screens in the main newsroom that show the latest BREAKING NEWS headlines from various sources @ 1 time. The facility also houses 4 studios, a web center & a large master control room, complemented by 2 smaller control rooms. The newsroom also features a large faux balcony wall with images of the Tampa area on it. Most notably, the station was able to transition to the new facility without going off the air, thanks to the studio's new technologies. The final newscast in the old studio aired on the morning of June 27th, 2005. The new facility became fully operational at 3:00 PM the same day, with the airing of it's first afternoon newscast. In April of 2006, Tampa Bay News 7 received a Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award in the category of station automation for it's streamlined newscasts & the technology that makes those newscasts possible County bureaus *Pinellas County bureau, located @ Tampa Bay News 7's Carillon studios (St. Petersburg). *Hillsborough County bureau, located in Tampa. *Polk County bureau, located in The Ledger Newsroom in Lakeland. *Manatee County bureau, located in Bradenton. *Pasco County bureau, located in New Port Richey. *Hernando County bureau, located in Spring Hill. *Citrus County bureau, located in The Citrus County Chronicle Newsroom Crystal River. *Tallahassee bureau, located in Tallahassee & shared with Orlando's CFL News 6 Miscellaneous * WMFL Corporation also has a similar news operation in Orlando known as CFL News 6. * Tampa Bay News 7 & CFL News 6 are both CNN affiliate sister stations External links